Category Archives: My Life

Allentown Art Festival 2013 – Let the Games Begin!

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Allentown Art Festival 2013

My first big show of the year, the 56th Allentown Art Festival was held on June 8th and 9th of this year.  It started out on a soggy note, but a perfect blue sky Sunday was sandwiched in between a string of chilly, rainy days. The show was mobbed on Sunday, and even in the rain, attendance on Saturday was good.

Allentown is my hometown show, so, unlike most of the festivals I participate in, I have memories of it that pre-date my days as an exhibitor.

My earliest memories of the show include wandering through the streets with my girlfriends, amazed by all of the artwork, leather goods and jewelry – (so much silver, turquoise and sandstone in those days 🙂 –  and thinking what a strange, magical place it seemed to be. Most of those long ago memories are hazy, but one stands out as bright and clear as if happened yesterday. For a number of years there was a tall man, dressed in white pants, a blue polo shirt and a captain’s hat, standing in front of a very large, color photograph propped on a easel. “Do you know what this is?”, he would ask passersby, “…this is bovine urea….. do you know what that is?” I had never before seen bovine urea through a microscope and enlarged exponentially, and remember it was bright, colorful and quite beautiful, albeit in a creepy sort of way 🙂

Now, many years removed from my street wandering, turquoise wearing days, I am the person offering bright, colorful artwork to the bustling crowds. Over the years my work has shifted from hand-colored black and white photography, to stoneware masks, to my current mixed media creations which incorporate acrylic paint and polymer clay. My artwork draws people in, makes them point, comment and smile.

Perhaps, many years from now, another artist will be writing about the bright, colorful artwork she saw at a long ago show. I want that to happen, I think it’s a good thing! But she’ll have to find something other than a captain’s hat and cow pee to rest her memories on.

 

Upcoming Shows for 2013

June 28th, 29th and 30th Boston Mills Art Festival, Peninsula, Ohio

July 6th, West Hazeltine Street Sale, Kenmore, NY: once a year I drag out all of my dent and scratch, what-was-I-thinking, never-take-to-an-art-show pieces and offer them at reduced prices. My studio space will be open for viewing as well.

July 12th, 13th & 14th Cain Park Arts Festival, Cleveland Heights,Ohio

* Tentative* July 26th, Ithaca Artists Market at Steamboat Landing, Ithaca, New York

July 27th & 28th, Glen Park Art Festival, Williamsville, NY : a selection of my work will be represented by Village Artisans

August 10th & 11th,  Lewiston Art Festival, Lewiston, New York

August 24th & 25th Elmwood Avenue Festival of the Arts, Buffalo, NY

* Tentative*  Mid-September, Music is Art Festival, Buffalo, NY

October 12th,13th & 14th, Letchworth Arts & Crafts Fest, Letchworth State Park, Castile, NY

November 15th &16th, Maddie’s Pet Rescue Pet Expo, Hamburg Fair Grounds, Hamburg, NY

Find Me Online at:

You can find my work online at: https://www.etsy.com/shop/SilentMyloStudio

And daily updates at: https://www.facebook.com/ArtistAlisonEKurek

 

Moanin' Lisa #4/100

 

 

Misconceptions About Working Out of Your Home

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I was outside gardening this morning — getting rid of weeds that have been choking out a Rose of Sharon bush for longer than I can remember, when my neighbor, Mrs. “L” asked me once again: “So, you have another day off?”

Don’t get me wrong. I love my neighbor. She is wonderful 80-something woman who has never spoken a cross word to me since I’ve live here, but it irritated me. I wouldn’t exactly call today a “day off”.

For the most part I’m self employed and work out of my house. And while yes, my truck is often in the drive way and I’m “home”, I’m generally working my ass off.

 

 

It’s interesting how people choose to not understand a lifestyle they are unfamiliar with. Mrs. “L” isn’t the only neighbor who has commented on my “days off”. I laugh as I realize these are are same neighbors who see me, year after year, hauling art supplies into my house and then hauling them out again as finished products. They watch me overload my truck before an art show. They wander through my “cast offs” at our yearly yard sale and say “You didn’t really MAKE this, did you?” But for some reason they choose to see me as a lady of leisure.

 

When it comes right down to it, it usually doesn’t bother me.  I live in a neighborhood of plumbers, factory workers and lawn guys. I have no concept of what their day to day work lives entail either — but for some reason it got under my skin today. Maybe it was because I was wilting under the “too hot for May” sun, or the fact that my lawn mower kept trying to stall out as I cut the grass, or  that I’m pretty much going to work non-stop until my first big outdoor art show in two weeks.

Whatever the reason, I’m glad to say I’m over it. It’s officially blogged away. The next time someone asks me if I have yet another day off I’m going to smile and say “Yes, another very, very productive vacation day” 🙂

You can find my originals and prints in my Etsy shop at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/SilentMyloStudio?ref=si_shop

 

 

There is NEVER enough space!

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Is it time to rent studio space? 

I’ve never been accused of being the most organized or tidy person, but as my work grows in size I find my actual living space to be on the verge of extinction. There are paint brushes in my bathroom sink, half finished canvases stacked in my living room, and don’t even get me started on my computer/polymer clay/shipping room.

So when should I say enough is enough? Is rented studio space in my near future?

This isn’t the first time I’ve considered it. In fact, I’ve sat down on several occasions and written out the pros and cons of having a space dedicated to art production. The PRO list is quite long. It includes the implied structure having a separate “work place” would give to my work schedule, being able to turn my house into a home rather than a work space, and oh so much less cat hair imbedded in my work.

Number one on the CON List is cost. Do I really need to add monthly rent to my list of expenses? Would I move only my paints and clay offsite but keep my computer work and shipping at home? Would I forever being traveling back and forth between home and studio to pick up forgotten items?

It’s all food for thought but, as summer art season grows closer, it will be put on the back burner once more. So — if you fall in love with a piece of my work at a show this summer season please excuse the stray cat hair or two. It comes from my models and only serves to increase the value of the work 🙂

You can see a selection of my work at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/SilentMyloStudio

Those Little Voices in Your Head

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…..sometimes aren’t that little and you have to let them out to keep from going deaf. These three were hanging out in my head and making quite a ruckus!

So here’s the plan.

Title: Geeks, Hipsters and Kings OR If Geeks and Hipsters were Kings.

Back ground scene: old concrete wall with graffiti — computer text (<geekspeak>) and a crown or two. I had planned on just painting the wall but decided that was just dumb. Buffalo is filled with old concrete, graffiti covered walls and it’s a gorgeous day. Here are a couple of the images I’m going to work with. Lot’s of photoshop manipulation — hand painted graffiti on a canvas print. This is either going to be very good — or it’s going to stink 🙂 I’ll try my best to avoid the latter.

 

 

You can find prints of the new work along with others in my Etsy shop at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/SilentMyloStudio?ref=si_shop